JUST SAY TEXAS
by Tribeca
Summary: Deleted scene from 6.16. *complete*


**A/N: My head urged me not to do this but my heart was relentless. Heart won. **

JUST SAY TEXAS

"This is the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me, Amy."

Sheldon smiled at her, well he smiled as much of a smile as his heart would allow him to smile, and braced himself for her awkward hug.

Amy soon released him from her clutches and stood to retrieve her phone. She wanted to place their pizza order before he had time to change his mind. She knew there was always the possibility of him asking her to leave. She knew there were some nights when he just couldn't take it. He put up a good front, really he did. But she knew.

Sheldon removed his jacket and shuffled to the bookcase to peruse his Blu-ray collection.

He found it odd that his vision was a watery blur and when he realized his hands had formed tightly balled fists at his side, he knew the cause. He sniffed as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert Amy to his state of distress.

"Excuse me Amy," he said, turning to escape to the confines of his bedroom, his only solitary space. "I need a moment. Could you please select a movie? Any disc from the left side of the third shelf will be acceptable."

She pretended not to notice the crimson stain of his face or the sadness in his eyes.

"Sure Sheldon. Anything for my boyfriend."

She felt it necessary to yet again remind him of their status.

Once in the sanctuary of his bedroom, he slowly pulled his cherished Nimoy napkin from the drawer and removed it from the protective cover. He knew this would always be the best gift anyone had given him. He wondered why he had betrayed the sacred treasure from Penny.

…

"Fine you win, you're a bitch."

Penny smiled and knocked back another shot of wine. She knew Leonard was only agreeing with _her_ words but somehow hearing her boyfriend, the boyfriend whom had just hours earlier proposed marriage to her, agree that she was a bitch hurt just a little more than she wanted to admit.

"You know I have commitment issues," she said, because really, after identifying herself as a bitch there were no boundaries left to contain her self-loathing.

She'd finally said enough to make him want to leave her apartment and she was glad. The pain was too much and the wine was calling her name too loudly. She wanted nothing more than for him to go.

"I won't ever ask you to marry me again," he said and she wondered aloud if he was breaking up with her.

"No, when you are ready you ask me."

They made a few jokes, laughed a few laughs and he'd ended the night by announcing they would have sex.

He never noticed the tears in her eyes as he thrust his way to ecstasy while she lay stretched helplessly beneath him.

…

S: I'm alone.

The light from his text lit the room and she was thankful she'd remembered to mute the sound. Her eyes shot to her sleeping partner and noted that he continued to snore contentedly. Her fingers flew across the keypad as she eased out of bed.

P: I feel alone.

S: I assume that means you are not physically alone.

P: He asked me to marry him again.

S: I told her the gift she gave me was the best gift I'd ever received.

P: You lied.

S: I did.

P: I said I was a bitch and he agreed.

S: Come over?

P: I just had sex with him.

S: It doesn't matter. Come over.

The tea was made and at its most optimal temperature when she entered the apartment.

"If he wakes up, I'm toast."

"Just tell him you couldn't sleep. It's the truth."

"Yeah, and you just happened to be up with a kettle full of tea?"

"I don't know why I discounted the gift you gave me. I had to excuse myself for a few minutes to collect my senses."

"We have no other choice Sheldon. You know that."

"I know it. You know it. I don't have to like it do I?"

He settled his body on the barstool beside her and brought the mug of tea to his mouth.

"Sheldon, just face it. We were over before we ever began. We never had a chance."

She drank the rest of her tea in silence, and then stood to leave. He followed her to the door.

"Penny?"

Her forehead bent to rest against the cool wood grain of the door and she felt his arms wrap around her waist, his body pressed close behind her.

"Yeah?"

"You're not a bitch. And the gift you gave me, no matter what, will always be the best."

"I'm not going to marry him. Ever."

"What about us?"

"We'll have to go away to try us. We can't do it here Sheldon, there's too much history. Too many hearts at stake. Too many people we care about. We'd have to leave California."

"Texas is good."

"You let me know when you are ready."

"Soon."

"You said that before."

"He never called you a bitch before."

She felt his lips on her neck, the warmth of his breath near her ear, she reminded him again that she'd just been with Leonard and he pulled away, releasing her.

"Just say Texas and I'm yours."

…

He corrected the lie he had told Amy the following day. She told him she'd known the truth all along. No gift could ever top the Nimoy napkin. Amy told him she deserved better than what he could give her. They both knew she was right. She broke up with him first because she was sure he wouldn't have the courage to tell her about Penny.

Penny told Leonard she'd never ask him to marry her because that wasn't what she wanted; it wasn't what she'd ever want. They broke up before he left her apartment that morning.

Sheldon left work early that day, the day after Valentine's Day. As the bus he rode drew closer to North Los Robles Avenue, he pulled his phone from his messenger bag and sent a one word text to Penny:

S: Texas

She began to pack and was waiting for him when he got to the top of the stairs. California may have been the place where they had gone to chase their dreams, but Texas was the place where their dreams would come true.

It occurred to Penny as they crossed the Texas state line that sometimes you have to leave where you are in order to get to where you are supposed to be.


End file.
